Most information technology (IT) organizations have invested in one or multiple test management tools for managing testing efforts and associated resources for related IT solution implementations. Test management is the overarching activity associated with the testing of a Solution Under Test (SUT). The SUT may include software, middleware, hardware and other types of IT system components. The tests may include functional and non-functional testing, such as performance testing or defect resolution management prior to releasing a newly developed SUT or enhanced versions of a SUT in to a production environment. They may also include tests that are done in production environment, such as regression testing system upgrade validations.
The purpose of a test management tool is to assist a Quality Assurance Manager (QAM) with evaluating the quality of the SUT before releasing it into a production environment. However, given the diversity of IT solutions and underlying systems and the variety of correlated business objectives for implementing such solutions including related IT management constraints, it is often difficult to provide the QAM with the required and current management information that is most pertinent to the specific SUT. Accordingly, IT organizations may have to rely on data that, at given points in time, does not provide accurate and complete answers to properly determine the associated quality level that is being asked from the QAM. As a result, corresponding management decisions at both the project and test operation level might be more subjective than objective which may lead to insufficient or even wrong management actions.